COLLECTORS CORNER #1

The Oric Welcome Tape - New revised edition

I thought we could look at some quote aspects of the Oric. Most of us that still have an Oric will want to gather a collection of original Oric products. Not many use tapes now, but a few like to get hold of cassettes we haven't previously found - just to add to the collection ! Finding a cassette that you don't already own can be as exciting as finding a piece of software you have never heard of. We then start to get in to a collectors mentality; What is the rarest tape ? Are theredifferent versions of the same software ? Most assume that there are no different releases of Oric titles and books, but that just isn't true. Let's begin with a look at the Welcome tape.
The original I have has a colour Oric-1 inlay which features on the back 16K and 48K in a circle to chow it works on both models. The accompanying cassette is the one on the right. This says , 48K on both sides just to add to the confusion ! Now there is another version that I have. The early Oric tapes, (at least I think they are), came with not a colour inlay but a print of a single colour. This one was in blue, but I have other cassettes, like Forth, which has the same image in a green colour, whilst Oric Base is in grey. So were they early versions ? I'm not sure.
 
This second version, below, has the cassette on the right. You'll notice it is quite different ! The demonstration is on side one and the introductory game on side two. But wait a minute .... that is the Atmos demo isn't it ? I thought so - I even had this tape with an Atmos I bought. The real Atmos Welcome tape is pictured below.
I think this though is the original Oric-1 Welcome tape. It is a cheaper production and the better colour version was produced when both 16K and 48K were in production - so must be later.
(This version just has the 48K logo.)
 
The point is though, that to a collector this is big news ! A collector wants to get his hands on every version, and the rarest ones become the ones people want. The ones people want become valuable !!! Oh so it's about money then ? Well not really - not at this stage anyway. For now it is about getting as complete a collection as you can. Some people like to get hold of those oddities and so these article are to try and tell you about some of them.

(Original articles appeared in Rhetoric magazine - these versions especially rewritten for Muso'c Oric Site )

 

 

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